Paul Ryan Expands H-2B Blue-Collar Outsourcing Program for 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s new 2017 budget allows the Department of Homeland Security to import at least 20,000 extra foreign blue-collar workers for seasonal jobs in the Untied States, instead of requiring companies to recruit, train and pay marginalized Americans.

The bipartisan congressional language creates a headache for Trump and his deputies because it flips the politically difficult problem from Congress to the Department of Homeland Security of deciding whether to provide extra wage-cutting H-2B contract workers to companies or else to improve job opportunities for Trump’s blue-collar voters.

The new rule is opposed by pro-American groups, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform. According to FAIR’s Robert Law:

Increasing the number of low skilled foreign workers through a massive government funding bill is Washington at its worst. This is a clear betrayal of blue collar Americans who were hit the hardest by the Obama economy. Even after Trump’s victory, Congress is more interested in rewarding the business lobby’s thirst for cheap workers than getting their unemployed constituents back in the work force.

The new rule helps business groups offset rising pressure for wage increases, just 18 months before the mid-term elections when voters will vet the success or not of Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” policies.

The H-2B language was hidden deep in the draft 2017 supplemental budget — which is to face House and Senate votes this week — and it surprised opponents of the legislation. In December 2016, Ryan had agreed to trim the program when the partial 2017 budget deal was announced just one month after blue-collar voters backed Donald Trump’s campaign promise of a low-immigration, high-wage national economic policy.

The language in the 2017 budget says the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to exceed the supposed 66,000 annual cap on H-2B outsourcing visas by a number equal to the maximum number of workers who benefited from an earlier exemption, dubbed the “returning worker exemption.”

The H-2B program allows companies that do seasonal work to import up to 66,000 foreign workers each year instead of recruiting and hiring Americans. The program is supported by Democrats and Republicans eager to aid local business groups, which are competing against each other for American workers, and which face competition from the companies that employ roughly 8 million illegal immigrants.

The program means companies don’t have to pay a premium to hire Americans for seasonal overtime work that leaves them unemployed in winter, and it also reduces pressure on the companies to recruit and train youths and marginalized Americans, including millions of Americans who have fallen out of the workforce. The imported workers are also paid at rates that are lower than needed to attract Americans to those jobs — which also means that the companies can pay lower wages to their full-time American workers.

The RWE exemption allowed roughly 20,000 extra visas to be handed out in 2016, above the 66,000 level.

The new 2017 rule may allow far more visas to be given out because the RWE program was also used under George W. Bush to import 130,000 foreign workers in 2007. If that 2007 number sets the 2017 limit, then, then the DHS will be able to triple the program to almost 200,000 foreign workers.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

According to the horseracing industry website Bloodhorse.com, Alex Waldrop, the head of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, predicted the new rule could double the size of the H-2B program this year. “It limits the total number of H-2B workers that may enter the U.S. during fiscal year 2017 to 129,547,” Waldrop said told the website.

In practice, companies will not be able to quickly recruit and import that maximum number of workers in 2017, partly because the DHS has yet to establish a process for handling the extra H-2B visa requests. But if the Ryan expansion becomes the norm, then lobbyists could use the DHS to push the H-2B program in 2018 back up to the 2007 level.

The H-2B program is backed by landscaping companies but is also strongly supported by the resort and hotel industries, forestry and shrimping companies and the horse racing sector.

Economic Policy Institute

The H-2B program is backed by many politicians, notably Sen. Thom Tillis, a GOP Senator from North Carolina, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch. Ryan has a history of backing “any willing worker” rules which allow companies to import foreign workers instead of hiring Americans at wages sufficient to help raise a family.

The H-2B program is one of many contract-worker programs run by the federal government, which allow companies to annually hire roughly 1 million foreign white-collar or blue-collar workers for multi-year or seasonal jobs that can be filled by Americans. These programs include the H-1B program, which has allowed companies to create a domestic population of almost 1 million foreign professionals, including doctors, information-technology experts, designers, and accountants.

The annual inflow of 1 million contract workers is in addition to the annual inflow of 1 million legal immigrants. Every year, these two million new arrivals compete with the 4 million young Americans who enter the workforce each year, forcing down wages, driving up unemployment and transferring roughly $500 billion from employees to employers and investors. Several million working-age men have been pushed out the workforce by declining wages, say economists.

6 Responses to RINO Ryan Goes Full Hillary On Trump and USA, Expands H-2B Blue-Collar Outsourcing Program for 2017

Ryan’s approach seems to be to “slow-walk” every necessary reform. It’s so frustrating to watch considering how many truly stellar Representatives we have. Granted, the House gets very little coverage by the MSM, but there seems to be no fire in Ryan’s gut. What gives?

Meta

Blogroll

A real soldier's view of WW II
I have a story to tell about my fathers WWII days and someone suggested that I start a blog. So here I am with no idea of what the heck I am doing. I have pictures of my fathers time overseas. I also have a suitcase full of letters. The first letter is f

Act For America
ACT for America is committed to recruiting, training, and mobilizing citizens community by community to help protect and preserve American culture and to keep this nation safe.

Alex Jones' Infowars
Because there is a war on for your mind this website provides information you may not see elsewhere. Information is what we all need to have.

I Have Vanished
The goal of this website is to focus on both runaway juveniles and individuals who are missing against their will primarily within the United States. Reasons people go missing include being abducted, incapacitated or injured, a victim of a catastrophe, a

Islam 101
Islam 101 is meant to help people become better educated about the fundamentals of Islam and to help the more knowledgeable better convey the facts to others

Karen Hudes a well know World Bank Whistleblower
Karen Hudes worked in the US Export Import Bank of the US from 1980-1985 and in the Legal Department of the World Bank from 1986-2007. She has been exposing the WORLD Bank, the IMF, and the Fed for many years

Oath Keepers – Guardian of the Republic
Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like minded citizens who take an Oath to sta

PAVE Shattering the Silence of Sexual Assault
Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment (PAVE) is the only national nonprofit that works both to shatter the silence and prevent sexual violence through social advocacy, education and survivor support.

The Manhattan Declaration
A CALL OF CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD A Special Report
This Special Report aims to analyze the Muslim Brotherhood organization as a global movement, in particular their ideology and the key players involved in the movement as well as charting the extent of their global reach.

U.S. Terror History Map
There are three sections: “Court Cases”, “Radical Activities”, and Mosques and Islamic centers listed at one time were home to radical clerics or to conspirators in a terrorism-related investigations

Understanding The Threat
UTT is the only organization in America which is training leaders, elected officials, law enforcement, military personnel, and citizens, about the Global Islamic Movement and the jihadi networks in communities around the nation

Veterans For A Stronger America
America is safe – when America is strong.Veterans for a Strong America is a non-partisan action organization dedicated to educating the public, members of Congress and the Executive Branch about our 5 Step Mission to make America Strong:

Veterans For Child Rescue
The organization’s primary objectives are to educate and increase public awareness, assist law enforcement and other legal entities to prevent and reduce pedophilia, human sex trafficking and child sexual abuse.

Wall Builders
Presenting America’s Forgotten History and Heroes with an Emphasis on our moral, religious, and Constitutional heritage

WikiLeaks Hillary Clinton Email Archive
On March 16, 2016 WikiLeaks launched a searchable archive for 30,322 emails & email attachments sent to and from Hillary Clinton’s private email server while she was Secretary of State

WikiLeaks Leaks
Most of their published documents which were leaked to them can be found at this link

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.